Category Archives: HDB

Do the criteria reflect reality?

Posted on 5 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Do the criteria reflect reality?

I REFER to Monday’s letter by the Housing Board, ‘How HDB keeps it affordable’.

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The HDB states that flat prices are determined by willing buyers and willing sellers. In land-scarce Singapore, the notion of ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ has little practical meaning.

Suppose I want to buy a flat in Ang Mo Kio to live close to my parents but the HDB is not building any new flats there. I have no choice but to buy from Ang Mo Kio resellers.

Suppose too, I need to set up a family now and cannot wait for the build-to- order scheme to kick in, what choice do I have but to buy from the resale market?

So ‘willing buyer, willing seller’ is not a realistic picture of what is happening now.

If there are sufficient new flats available for people to choose from, where and when they like, who would be ‘willing’ to buy from the resale market? Continue reading →

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Posted in HDB, Property Price

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Developers raise price of DBSS flats to ride on property boom

Posted on 5 Sep 2009 | Comments Off on Developers raise price of DBSS flats to ride on property boom

Private developers have raised the prices of HDB’s Design, Build and Sell scheme (DBSS) flats to capitalize on the property boom, this coming days after Minister for National Development Mah Bow Tan conceding that prices of resale HDB flats will continue to rise.

DBSS projects are designed, built and sold by private developers. They offer condominium-style fittings, layouts and facilities but are subject to public housing rules, such as the household income ceiling, ethnic quotas and a five-year minimum occupation period.

As they are not built by HDB, the prices are set entirely by the private developers who are in the business to make a profit in the first place.

The prices of flats at Natura Loft at Bishan and The Peak@Toa Payoh have risen by up to 3 per cent, or $20,000. Current prices, which average at $500 psf are only slightly lower than prices of completed mass market condominiums in the suburbs such as Orchid Park condominium and the Seletaris in Sembawang. Continue reading →

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Posted in HDB, New Launches, Property Price

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